Your Friend and Neighbor

 

VIENNA/BERLIN (Own report) – The United Nations is protesting against the surveillance of its Vienna-based institutions conducted for years by the German Federal Intelligence Service (BND). The Vienna International Center (“UNO City”) “expects” that member states “respect the organization’s independence as well as the inviolability of its premises.” According to recent reports, from 1999 to 2006, the BND had monitored at least 2000 communication lines in Austria including those of the Vienna Chancellery and 128 telecommunication lines of the United Nations. The BND’s espionage in Austria has been known since 2015, but never clarified, because the competent German authorities, including the German Chancellery, refused to render Vienna the necessary assistance. The BND is accused of repeatedly refusing to tell the intelligence service monitors their reasons for spying, for example, on a “public body” of an EU member state. At the time of the large-scale spying in Austria, the current German President bore the highest responsibility for BND activities.

Russian Hackers Used Kaspersky Software to Steal NSA Data on U.S. Cyber Defense

An employee works near screens in the virus lab at the headquarters of Russian cyber security company Kaspersky Labs / Getty Images

 

Russian hackers stole data belonging to the National Security Agency about America’s cyber defense from the home computer of a U.S. government contractor, according to people familiar with the matter.

The material was highly classified and was identified by the hackers since the contractor was using Russian Kaspersky Lab antivirus software, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Top European Court Rules That NSA Spying Makes U.S. Unsafe For Data

The European Union no longer considers the United States a “safe harbor” for data because the National Security Agency surveillance exposed by whistleblower Edward Snowden “enables interference, by United States public authorities, with the fundamental rights of persons.”

The EU’s highest court, the Court of Justice, declared on Tuesday that an international commercial data-sharing agreement allowing U.S. companies free-flowing access to large amounts of European citizens’ data was no longer valid.

The New German Arrogance (II)

Germany knows controlling the flow of information is key, therefore it is now capturing the cyber realm. This, plus taking steps towards an EU Army, forcing further integration of EU member states and turning them into vassal states (i.e. Cyprus) are all key actions/characteristics of a nation striving to be a world superpower. Germany is now directly competing against the United States. The Fourth Reich has (almost) landed.

 

BERLIN/WASHINGTON/VIENNA (Own report) – In cooperation with NSA, a US military intelligence service, the German Federal Intelligence Service (BND) has massively intercepted and stored emails from Austria, Luxembourg and the Czech Republic. This became evident through an internal email from an employee of the Deutsche Telekom AG, responsible for cooperation with the intelligence service and police. According to the email, published by the Austrian parliamentarian Peter Pilz, Telekom, already in early February 2005, had given a green light to the BND having access to a fiber optic cable for internet communication connecting Luxembourg to Austria and numerous other countries. At the time, Frank-Walter Steinmeier (SPD), as Head of the Federal Chancellery, bore the highest responsibility for the activities of the BND. According to reports, Austria’s domestic intelligence was also being tapped. Whoever is cognizant of this communication, knows “almost everything about the Republic’s political life,” summarized Pilz. The governments concerned have raised no serious protests, in the Germany-dominated EU. The German government is continuing the BND’s technological upgrading, aimed ultimately toward raising German espionage “to an equal footing” with the NSA – also in internet spying.

Germans Are Paranoid that the US Is Spying on Their Data

The idea of personal data privacy is deeply ingrained in German culture. Germans even have a word for it: Datensparsamkeit, the principle of only collecting the bare minimum of data necessary.

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In June 2014, the German Bundestag, or national parliament, canceled its internet-service contract with US telecom Verizon, opting to entrust its data to German company Deutsche Telekom, instead. The alleged tapping of Angela Merkel’s personal cell phone in Dec. 2013, has led the German chancellor to compare the NSA to the East German secret police, and German citizens remain outraged at the NSA’s actions in their country—just yesterday, Apr. 23, national news magazine Der Spiegel revealed (link in German) that the agency had monitored Western European businesses for more than a year.

NSA Wants ‘Front Door’ Access to Encrypted Data

The head of the National Security Agency, Admiral Michael S. Rogers, said the intelligence group no longer is interested in backdoor solutions to digital surveillance.

Instead, the NSA wants a “front-door” solution – which some privacy experts think could be even worse.

Rogers suggested a solution in which at least two parties – one of which is the NSA – retain parts of a data encryption key. The solution would require all of the parties to provide their key in order for the NSA to access encrypted communications, as well as prevent the agency from acting unilaterally.

Congress Authorizes Spying On All Americans Without Due Process

(TheAntiMedia) Yesterday, the House passed H.R. 4681. The bill, which was also passed by the Senate on Tuesday, authorizes spying on all Americans without due process.

It grants the executive branch virtually unlimited access to the communications of every American.

The commentary below was published by U.S. Representative Justin Amash (yes, a member of Congress himself) on his official Facebook page late Wednesday night:

When I learned that the Intelligence Authorization Act for FY 2015 was being rushed to the floor for a vote—with little debate and only a voice vote expected (i.e., simply declared “passed” with almost nobody in the room)—I asked my legislative staff to quickly review the bill for unusual language. What they discovered is one of the most egregious sections of law I’ve encountered during my time as a representative: It grants the executive branch virtually unlimited access to the communications of every American.

A Cyberwar Quietly Rages Over Hong Kong

 

While protesters clash with police on the streets of Hong Kong, an unseen battle is being fought on the Internet. A conflict between hackers and the Chinese government is running quietly alongside what takes place on the streets.

In unusually sophisticated attacks that analysts believe are coming from the Chinese regime, hackers are infiltrating the phones, tablets, and computers of pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong. The breaches allow them not only to know what the protesters are planning ahead of time, but will enable them to monitor the activists even after the protests end.

The shadowy world of hackers isn’t just on the side of the Chinese regime. Hackers in security are hard at work shining a light on the Chinese regime’s cyberattacks. Hacker activists, meanwhile, are also hard at work launching attacks on Chinese government websites and calling for support of the democracy activists on social media.

German spies want $400M to play catch-up with the NSA

Your new post-America superpower:

Süddeutsche Zeitung, NDR and WDR have turned up secret documents belonging to the Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND), Germany’s counterpart to the NSA. It seems the BND is jealous of the digital espionage capabilities of the NSA and the U.K.’s GCHQ, and wants to up its game.

The documents warn that, if the BND doesn’t get the €300 million ($409 million) it needs to run expanded surveillance activities until 2020, Germany will fall behind even Italy and Spain in the spook stakes. They also suggest the spies hope to get their funding in the coming weeks.

Inside TAO: Documents Reveal Top NSA Hacking Unit

For more on SCADAs, please see the following previous posts:

Exclusive: Cyberattack leaves natural gas pipelines vulnerable to sabotage

UPDATE 3: U.S. probes cyber attack on water system

Security backdoor found in China-made US military chip

 

The NSA’s TAO hacking unit is considered to be the intelligence agency’s top secret weapon. It maintains its own covert network, infiltrates computers around the world and even intercepts shipping deliveries to plant back doors in electronics ordered by those it is targeting.

In January 2010, numerous homeowners in San Antonio, Texas, stood baffled in front of their closed garage doors. They wanted to drive to work or head off to do their grocery shopping, but their garage door openers had gone dead, leaving them stranded. No matter how many times they pressed the buttons, the doors didn’t budge. The problem primarily affected residents in the western part of the city, around Military Drive and the interstate highway known as Loop 410.

NSA Affair: Germans Conduct Helicopter Flyover of US Consulate

Under orders from Germany’s domestic intelligence agency, a federal police helicopter conducted a flyover of the US Consulate in Frankfurt, the government in Berlin has confirmed. Officials were apparently searching for surveillance equipment.

The German government on Monday confirmed that a previously reported operation targeting potential American eavesdropping facilities located on German soil took place at the end of August. Both a spokesperson for Chancellor Angela Merkel and the Interior Ministry admitted on Monday that a Federal Police helicopter had conducted a low-altitude flyover of the United States Consulate in Frankfurt in order to take high-resolution photographs. The apparent aim of the mission was to identify suspected listening posts on the roof of the consulate.

French intelligence spying on emails, phonecalls: newspaper

As mentioned in a previous post, the real scandal is that the foreign governments who are screaming the loudest, have been doing it as well.

AFP – French secret services intercept all communications in France, stocking telephone and computer data for years, daily newspaper Le Monde reported Thursday amid an international uproar over spying by the United States.

Government officials have not responded to AFP requests for comment on the Le Monde report, which said data from communications was being stored on a supercomputer at the headquarters of the DGSE intelligence service.

The DGSE “systematically collects electromagnetic signals emitted by computers in France, as well as the data feed between France and abroad: the entirety of our communications are being spied upon,” said the report.

NSA Spying in Germany: How Much Did the Chancellor Know?

What everyday people don’t understand is that countries spy on other countries on a routine basis, even allies. Matter of fact, in the real geopolitical world there is no such thing as an ally, only ‘interests’ — especially to the United States. England has regularly spied on the US, and vice-versa. Much like the NSA/CIA/FBI, Interpol (European CIA equivalent) has even been given nearly full authority (with immunity) to act as they please on American soil, by this very same US administration.

In addition, the NSA spying had to have been known long ago and approved by these same foreign governments complaining and making a scandal out of it. In summary, this is only being turned into a ‘scandal’ to make sure the politicians don’t lose popularity among their respective voters. This is not to whitewash what’s going on, but to point out that the real scandal is that the politicians in such countries as France and Germany allowed it to happen, have been caught red-handed and are only putting on a show for public consumption.

While the Chancellery appears to be outraged by the NSA’s spying tactics in Germany, the opposition doubts the revelations came as a surprise to Angela Merkel. Just how much could she have known?

German Chancellor Angela Merkel will have to be pretty clear with US President Barack Obama the next time she has him on the line. At least that’s a reasonable assumption, based on the anger she has expressed about American spying operations in the European Union and Germany.

Restrict China, protect Canada

Spying has been in the news of late. It’s the 50th anniversary of the James Bond franchise hitting the silver screen, a Canadian naval officer pleaded guilty last week to selling military secrets to Russia, and the U.S. House of Representatives’ intelligence committee warns Chinese state-owned companies shouldn’t be allowed to own firms in highly sensitive sectors of our economies, for fear of corporate espionage.

The committee warned last week that Huawei Technologies and ZTE Corp., two Chinese-based telecommunications giants, should be expelled from the U.S. market to minimize the risk of spying.